₦airaland Forum

Babachir Lawal, former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF) and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), says Peter Obi never gave full commitment to the party since he joined.

Lawal spoke on Tuesday during a Prime Time interview on Arise Television.

His comments came two days after Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former governor of Kano, quit the ADC and joined the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).

They premised their defection on ADC’s “endless court cases, internal battles” and uncertainties regarding the party’s future.

Reacting to the development, Lawal said Obi joined the coalition late and was never fully invested in its structure.

“Peter Obi joined the coalition after it had all begun for quite a long time. He had always been somebody that is very shifty when it came to ADC. We never felt his heart was in it,” he said.

Lawal said the party leadership made concessions to accommodate the former governor of Anambra by allowing him to nominate the organising secretary, adding that the decision did not pay off.

“To accommodate Peter Obi, we offered him to single-handedly bring the organising secretary of the party. We never extended that goodwill to any other member of the party,” Lawal said.

He said the offer was meant to reassure him about the party’s internal processes, but concerns about his commitment persisted after the gesture.

“We felt that if you have confidence in the party’s organising secretary, that assures you that you cannot be manipulated out, because the heart of electoral processes in a political party is the organising secretary’s office,” Lawal said.

“But you see, right from inception we suspected that his heart was not with us.”

The former SGF further attributed Obi’s exit from the party to what he described as a fear of open contest.

“I don’t think it is suspicion; I think it’s fear. And a democrat, a politician who fears election, I think, has no business being one,” Lawal said.

“He doesn’t want to participate in primaries; he prefers to be a consensus candidate, and that consensus must be him.”

Lawal said the ADC leadership was committed to maintaining fairness among its members, many of whom he described as influential figures with varying ambitions.

“This is a political party of heavyweights, former this, former that, everybody, some with ambition, some like us with no ambition. And the only way you can make progress is to create a level playing field for everybody,” he said.

He also dismissed suggestions that his past support for Obi in the 2023 elections should automatically translate into continued political alignment.

“I was never a member of the Labour Party throughout the time I was supporting Peter Obi. It just so happened that at that particular time in that election cycle, our goals aligned, and we felt that we could support each other and pursue the same goal,” he said.

“It’s not as if Peter Obi is the best product that a political party can produce to be president. There are so many other people that can make good presidential material in this country.”

The former SGF maintained that his involvement in politics predates Obi and is driven by personal convictions rather than loyalty to any figure.

“I didn’t join politics because of him… there’s no way I can tie my own ambitions, my own political inclinations to one person,” he said.

“He didn’t pay my school fees. He has never given me a bag of rice to eat in my house. So I don’t understand how you would say that, because Peter Obi has left, I should follow him.”

https://www.thecable.ng/obis-heart-was-never-in-adc-says-babachir-lawal/

Obi heart was in ADC until atiku tried to hijack the party with dollars

Peter Obi don't play politics of dollars so he left to NDC.

Peter Obi said it openly that he will leave the ADC if atiku attempts transactional politics and he did.

Nigeria is in ruins today because we play politics of "bribe for support" and Peter Obi will never be a party to that.

It is the turn of the south, so atiku can keep his dollars till the next election after 2027.

Before the coalition. Obi asked that the presidential election ticket be zoned to the south.

Una say make he join first. When you get the that bridge, you will cross it.

When he found out, ADC had no intentions of zoning the ticket to the south. He had to live.

A man must live by his convictions not that of others

Una wan force the man swallow wetting e no like ? Hian

He has paid his dues to his oga which is Atiku

Atiku can't say the same for OBJ

Must Atiku contest? Which kind power hungry greed be that

Beautifulday:
Before the coalition. Obi asked that the presidential election ticket be zoned to the south.

Una say make he join first. When you get the that bridge, you will cross it.

When he found out, ADC had no intentions of zoning the ticket to the south. He had to live.

A man must live by his convictions not that of others

Simple as ABC

If not greed everyone agreed it's for the south

Let the southerners run , there is Amechi also

Why must Atiku baba contestant also pick interest

Where has obi's heart ever been...?🤷

Everyone knows he left because he couldn't get a guaranteed position to run as president - well, everyone except his supporters... It an open secret!

Ovilikom2:
Simple as ABC

If not greed everyone agreed it's for the south

Let the southerners run , there is Amechi also

Why must Atiku baba contestant also pick interest

He sees himself as the father of politics in Nigeria. So everyone is his kid. But he has been there watching everyone become president but not himself.

He thinks highly of himself.

He eats his share and wants to eats others too. What a man

Lol. Confusion in the camps of the oppositions.
His heart is in how to rescue Nigeria 😂

Thank you Prophet Lawal for telling us this. What is your business with where his heart is? Why are you people very scared of Peter Obi and the Nigerian genuine voters?

You can pretend not to know who is responsible for the litigation case in court.
In which country does a supreme court rule on a case and refer it back to lower court?
Obi saw the trap and left your ADC for you.

No truer words have been spoken

Obi don cause confusion again, I am waiting for the election result, make I hear who go say Tinubu rig election's.
When you opposition are divided what do you expect.
Obi and Atiku just de scatter thing's

brain54:
Where has obi's heart ever been...?🤷

Everyone knows he left because he couldn't get a guaranteed position to run as president - well, everyone except his supporters... It an open secret!

If it was zoned to the south. He will still be there.

Let me ask you.

Who start the talk about consensus in ADC

Beautifulday:
He sees himself as the father of politics in Nigeria. So everyone is his kid. But he has been there watching everyone become president but not himself.

He thinks highly of himself.

He eats his share and wants to eats others too. What a man

If care is not taken Atiku fit dust tinubu where money dey

And he was a vice president

So what is all these power greee for Kai

Why are these folks attacking Peter Obi. Kwankwaso also defected. Why do they seem to focus their negative energy on Obi? They must be really pained. Anyways, I understand. It's not easy to loose a huge capital 😂

To me, even Obi won't win the next election which I know he will not, he has retired Atiku. Lol. This is exactly what Tinubu wants.

What we are validating in 2027: That Atiku's influence cannot win any election in Nigeria. Why? He isnt a fair player. A selfish and one of the most corrupt politicians that is around. Lol. A politician that believes in his dollars. Lol.

Tinubu is the first to strengthen him, and the second to weaken him after OBJ. OBJ's blow effect is still affecting him. Lol. Then, Wike carried him very high and slammed him on the floor. Wike destroyed Atiku totally. Baba never learned his lesson. He then went into the drawing board and decided to return to his vomit (Obi). He dumped Obi for Okowa. Lol. Where is Okowa today? And he wanted to use brain for Obi. Obi only blew him away with his mouth. Lol. That Wike's blow had destroyed him to the extend that Obi only needed to blow him away effortlessly with his mouth. Lol. He rendered him useless before his dollars start working. Hahaha hahaha!

When you call a musky greedy politician, Aiku should answer "present sir". The greatest mistake will be that he should go ahead and still try to contest. I know that Dele Momodu and BabaChair will push him cos dem wan cash out. Lol. As it is presently, parties who will accept him are doing so to collect his dollars..lol. it is clear to everyone that he cannot win again. So, many parties will start asking him to come. Lol.

The day I know that he has lost was the day FFK and Reno dumped him. Even Bwala dumped him. These three guys sold themselves to defend him, but that which made them all to leak their wounds to beg Tinubu must be tough. Lol. Since then, I knew that Atiku is a shadow of himself.

It is still not late for him to become an elder with brain by teaming up with someone else. He should support a candidate and not contest. The best for him is still to eradicate Kwankwaso and push his people to support Obi. But at this stage, Obi no go green to be only one term president. He wont. And that's still a trap for Obi.

And Obi too is going to kill his ambition by going along with Kwankwaso. Lol. Man wey no get anywhere else apart from Kano, plus...he has been labeled a boko haram guy.. I pity him. Obi will realise his mistake later because the whip he used to destroy Atiku is waiting for him also. Mark my words. Lol.

Tinubu is the smartest of them all. He knows who to avoid unlike Atiku and Obi who dont. He avoided El-Rufai with deception. Lol. That Tinubu is evil. But he sef go meet that Karma that finished MKO which is the worst thing. Na MKO's legacy that bloody Karma went after. This will be Tinubu's fate if he doesnt repent.

I keep saying it, we haven't got the person who will make Nigeria OK for us. I will keep praying for Nigeria. It is well.

Ovilikom2:
If care is not taken Atiku fit dust tinubu where money dey

And he was a vice president

So what is all these power greee for Kai

He wan make name.

Money no dey belle full them.

Ask yourself, wetin Tinubu still dey find with money that he wan use tax kill everyone?

What kind of enjoyment can Tinubu still do at his age?

Oya! Check out Paul Bia of Cameroon.

Omo! This thing is just funny

Breaker001:
Why are these folks attacking Peter Obi. Kwankwaso also defected. Why do they seem to focus their negative energy on Obi. They must be really pained. Anyways, I understand. It's not easy to loose a huge capital 😂

Kwakwansiyya makes a U-turn.

"I can neither support nor vote for Peter Obi; I am not following you this time around." — A Kwankwasiyya loyalist pic.twitter.com/rQnxb6Xmzx

— Abdul-Aziz Na'ibi Abubakar (@jrnaib2) May 6, 2026

The problem with ADC is they never regarded Obi.. .. And they don't seem to understand why Obi got angry

This is the same issue that killed PDP in 2023

It is the turn of the South, particularly South East

Now u have a very popular South East candidate that won South without structure in the last election, has the youth support

But u want to present a northerner who is as corrupt as the president and is 80 years old? And you expect him to take it?


It's better we vote Obi in NDC n lose that allow Atiku to win
Same man championed northern zoning in 2015 but has never respected southern zoning..

Atiku has no regard for South.. He believes South is only good for vice a means to an end

SlavaUkraini:
Babachir Lawal, former secretary to the government of the federation (SGF) and chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), says Peter Obi never gave full commitment to the party since he joined.

Lawal spoke on Tuesday during a Prime Time interview on Arise Television.

His comments came two days after Obi and Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, former governor of Kano, quit the ADC and joined the Nigeria Democratic Congress (NDC).

They premised their defection on ADC’s “endless court cases, internal battles” and uncertainties regarding the party’s future.

Reacting to the development, Lawal said Obi joined the coalition late and was never fully invested in its structure.

“Peter Obi joined the coalition after it had all begun for quite a long time. He had always been somebody that is very shifty when it came to ADC. We never felt his heart was in it,” he said.

Lawal said the party leadership made concessions to accommodate the former governor of Anambra by allowing him to nominate the organising secretary, adding that the decision did not pay off.

“To accommodate Peter Obi, we offered him to single-handedly bring the organising secretary of the party. We never extended that goodwill to any other member of the party,” Lawal said.

He said the offer was meant to reassure him about the party’s internal processes, but concerns about his commitment persisted after the gesture.

“We felt that if you have confidence in the party’s organising secretary, that assures you that you cannot be manipulated out, because the heart of electoral processes in a political party is the organising secretary’s office,” Lawal said.

“But you see, right from inception we suspected that his heart was not with us.”

The former SGF further attributed Obi’s exit from the party to what he described as a fear of open contest.

“I don’t think it is suspicion; I think it’s fear. And a democrat, a politician who fears election, I think, has no business being one,” Lawal said.

“He doesn’t want to participate in primaries; he prefers to be a consensus candidate, and that consensus must be him.”

Lawal said the ADC leadership was committed to maintaining fairness among its members, many of whom he described as influential figures with varying ambitions.

“This is a political party of heavyweights, former this, former that, everybody, some with ambition, some like us with no ambition. And the only way you can make progress is to create a level playing field for everybody,” he said.

He also dismissed suggestions that his past support for Obi in the 2023 elections should automatically translate into continued political alignment.

“I was never a member of the Labour Party throughout the time I was supporting Peter Obi. It just so happened that at that particular time in that election cycle, our goals aligned, and we felt that we could support each other and pursue the same goal,” he said.

“It’s not as if Peter Obi is the best product that a political party can produce to be president. There are so many other people that can make good presidential material in this country.”

The former SGF maintained that his involvement in politics predates Obi and is driven by personal convictions rather than loyalty to any figure.

“I didn’t join politics because of him… there’s no way I can tie my own ambitions, my own political inclinations to one person,” he said.

“He didn’t pay my school fees. He has never given me a bag of rice to eat in my house. So I don’t understand how you would say that, because Peter Obi has left, I should follow him.”

https://www.thecable.ng/obis-heart-was-never-in-adc-says-babachir-lawal/

Na Obi and kwankwaso leave but na Obi dem nor gree rest 🤣🤣
When u are big, you are big
Obi really outsmart them
See cry from all angles 🤣

Breaker001:
Why are these folks attacking Peter Obi. Kwankwaso also defected. Why do they seem to focus their negative energy on Obi. They must be really pained. Anyways, I understand. It's not easy to loose a huge capital 😂

Who be Kwanaso😂

Obi na their target, they wanted to trap him in ADC until no more time again

Man would have been helpless and after that they will just make him politically irrelevant

But OBi na master forget the chi chi voice 😂😂😂😂

[quote author=Goodvibes007 post=139320248]Kwakwansiyya makes a U-turn.

"I can neither support nor vote for Peter Obi; I am not following you this time around." — A Kwankwasiyya loyalist pic.twitter.com/rQnxb6Xmzx

— Abdul-Aziz Na'ibi Abubakar (@jrnaib2) May 6, 2026

Many Yorubas aren't supporting tinubu, so what difference does it make?

Is it every Yoruba that is supporting tinubu?

Om

OredoPikin:
Na Obi and kwankwaso leave but na Obi dem nor gree rest 🤣🤣
When u are big, you are big
Obi really outsmart them
See cry from all angles 🤣

Omo..u sef see'am too ....

Obi never really tell us what he did to these guys since 2023 that has made them always wake up to want to mention his name...

Ovilikom2:
Who be Kwanaso😂

Obi na their target, they wanted to trap him in ADC until no more time again

Man would have been helpless and after that they will just make him politically irrelevant

But OBi na master forget the chi chi voice 😂😂😂😂

They just wanted to use Obi
If Obi had eventually become Atiku Vice and they win

1) he would be relegated worse than shettima its obvious
2) they never planned to hand over to him

ADC should be a a coalition of equals but they never saw Obi as equal they saw him even low than Tambuwal

Obi is too selfish to think right. My own one cent.

Ovilikom2:
Who be Kwanaso😂

Obi na their target, they wanted to trap him in ADC until no more time again

Man would have been helpless and after that they will just make him politically irrelevant

You could be correct. Because I don't see why all of them are now crying foul over another man's defection. Is the defection their defection? 😂😂

That’s be a use you guys wanted to play him and he was one step ahead

Yes of course. When you know it is a set up for Atiku to have a free ride.

mrvitalis:
They just wanted to use Obi
If Obi had eventually become Atiku Vice and they win

1) he would be relegated worse than shettima its obvious
2) they never planned to hand over to him

ADC should be a a coalition of equals but they never saw Obi as equal they saw him even low than Tambuwal

Oga it's better for Obi to run under NDC and lose shikena at least na man he be


Than to work with vultures when no go regard am or e interest

Hnmmm... This is a cross road <. Obi must not be deputy to anyone . And the north say they won't vote for Obi (based on their history of ethno-religious bias). Infact 60% of Obi followers are Yoruba , 30% Igbo and 10% are from the north .

Obi may divide the votes . But Tinubu will not win

Why are they all crying wolves?
Why are they so obsessed with Peter Obi?